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Honestly, I glanced through Poz mag I think once when I was in doc office and then the farce that is going on with this month's Poz......HATED IT. I wouldn't use it to line Lucifer's litterbox with. If I have to subscribe to a magazine that represents me, I might as well buy Ebony/Jet/Essence, they're run by blacks and is about the only thing I have in common with it. Can't say I have anything in common with Poz magazine at all other than being Poz..

Ya youre probably right, After reading this and the other thread about the general opinions on POZ magazine I really have to wonder if they ( Poz Magazine ) werent hoping to gain some ' Street Credability' by purchasing AIDSmeds,

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"Fortunately, I Keep My T Cells Numbered For Just Such An Emergency" -Either Foghorn Leghorn or Johnny Cash

Ya youre probably right, After reading this and the other thread about the general opinions on POZ magazine I really have to wonder if they ( Poz Magazine ) werent hoping to gain some ' Street Credability' by purchasing AIDSmeds,

If that was any part of their plan, it seemed to have backfired. Very few AM members are fans, and they're obviously not equipped to express their side of this controversy in anything resembling real time.

The simmering dissatisfaction with the lack of response on the part of POZ mag's editorial staff will no doubt dissipate. But the fact that some members of AIDSmeds can incite the ire of so many others here and remain silent is troubling, but reality.

/edited for a minor point of clarity/

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Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

The revolutionary smart set reads The Spin Cycle at least once every day.

Damn Benji and Whizz! I'm sure glad that you've improved, though. I wonder if I have a pic somewhere of me in the hospital with all those IV bags and monitors on me... that's be a pretty picture, too. I'm sure I can scan the Xrays of my lungs with a caption 'no, they're not white balloons' or something. Seriously, though, what would make a decent cover would be a pic of a person when they're healthy, or between illnesses. Then, the story inside could show some of what they've gone through along with the text describing it. THAT would how a more realistic picture of AIDS / HIV than just the good or bad alone, in my opinion.

Being 35 and newly diagnosed (year and 1/2) thankfully not to much has gone wrong so far. But even I have problems, including with Poz mag. A lite read due to the ads that make up the majority of each issue.

Benj and Whizzer I think the pics are refreshing because even I know that things are not all glamourous. Thanks for sharing them. I would rather see honesty and integrity (no matter how disturbing it may be at times). This a pretty damn disturbing illness. As for the articles I think that they could be more varied and a little more informative. I might not be a rocket scientist but give me a little credit. I do praise them for being there and trying though. I think that there sugar coated viewpoint does need to change and I have read Poz even before I was +In agreement with many. my two cents... for what it is woth.

Seems that HIV is no big deal anymore!? Well I'm pretty new to this and this disease confuses me. The mag is glossy and it seems that being poz is no big deal. The weird thing is that in real life I've met other poz folks who are doing great as well. Actuallu I haven't met anyone who has severe health problems.

I don't know what to think about this mag. It confuses me. The whole atmosphere that hiv aint such a big deal... I don't get it.

Talking about adds. The Atripla Add really confuses me. Some kind of happy guy sitting on a big red 1. What do they wanna say? "One pill a day keeps the doctor away" or "well now you have HIV but Atripla will take care of you and life goes on". I don't know. The freaking thing about this disease is that I can't give it the right place in my mind. And the mag contributes to that. But I can't value the mag to be honest. I'm just to new to this.

whizer you missed the point but you also managed to miss the point while being a "shock jock" at the same time. i didn't ask to see your skin problems. the point is candles, darkness. more candles, less darkness

"I'm not keen on the idea of the afterlife - not without knowing who else will be there and what the entertainment will be. Personally I'd rather just take a rest." Oscar Berger, PWA: Looking AIDS in the Face, 1996. RIP.

whizer you missed the point but you also managed to miss the point while being a "shock jock" at the same time. i didn't ask to see your skin problems. the point is candles, darkness. more candles, less darkness

I don't get how whizzer and benj "missed the point". Isn't that exactly what you asked for just above their posts? To post pics of "lipo, MRSA, whatever"?

Hey gang, time for a much needed update from all of us at Smart+Strong. Regan Hofmann, POZ Magazine's editor-in-chief, is preparing a response to many of the concerns that have been raised in the forums this past week. We're actually very short-staffed these days, with folks on vacation, etc. (it's August!). But the main problem is that we've never really setup a formal way for POZ Magazine editorial to respond to the AIDSmeds Forums audience.

Frankly, until now, it hadn't hit our radars, since the forums folks don't appear to be regular readers of POZ Magazine, and until now, they haven't been commenting much on its content. Most of those who have posted the harshest comments about the new cover story have also admitted they are not regular readers of the magazine -- correct me if I'm wrong about this. POZ does have a rather large audience of regular readers, and they engage that audience regularly -- with monthly surveys, a healthy flow of email, constant outreach to the thousands of ASOs that distribute the magazine, and at face to face meetings at various AIDS conferences. It had always been my impression that since these forums started on AIDSmeds.com, there hasn't been a lot of overlap between the two audiences. We'd love for that to change, however, and with this week's brouhaha, hopefully it will.

I'll take the blame here for not anticipating the need for having some dedicated POZ staff time for engaging our forums audience, and I'm going to work on fixing this. In the mean time, expect a response from Regan soon, although please be patient if it doesn't appear until next week. This is all hitting while a reduced staff is trying to "close" the October issue (for those of you who have ever worked at a magazine, you'll know how crazy a closing period can be).

Peter, I won't quote everything you said, but I will state that I receive POZ magazine here at home. I don't read it cover to cover religiously, but I will state that I went through each page of the last issue to count the amount of lipo in any face in the magazine and there was ZERO in any picture in the articles or any advertisement. I actually have stacks and stacks of magazines here and I'm sure I have months and months of POZ issues as well, and I'm tempted to go through all of them and do a tally to see how representative the imagery is. Like words, imagery is also importance. I've complained repeatedly over the years about HIV medicationo/pharma advertising as have many others, but I don't really expect them to show this facet of living with HIV. I also realize that POZ magazine probably does some sort of concerted market research of their readership to ascertain what goes into the magazine, but it is still my impression that the imagery in the magazine's articles and accompanying imagery has shifted over the past few years. I distinctly recall that this was not the case years ago when I first noticed lipo in myself and many others in the HIV community (say around '99-'03 or so). I can't recall when POZ began being printed, but living in NYC I always ran across it in doctor's offices, ASO's, and other support facilities so I'm sure I've been reading it in some form since the beginning of it's publication.

As far as all of the other issues discussed recently personally it does not bother me that Jesus is on the current cover, though the article is admittedly lame and fluffy. Whatever... I guess I'd just flip to the next article and shrug my shoulders. I'm congnisant of the fact that there are other recently diagnosed 19 year olds that may find the article useful and helpfully reinforcing (I'm being generous here). I'm also aware that if only 15% of HIV-ers have lipo and the rest do not that any HIV publication will not plaster their pages with articles and imagery of this issue, but to ignore it is also not ethical. (I'm focusing on lipo here but it could also apply to other LTS issues). Still, regardless of whatever responses POZ gets in emails, opinion surveys, etc. it should be balanced with reality.

I'm also aware that just because Regan Hoffman is a very attractive woman with many style points folks on here are quick to slam her. I'm not one to do this as if I didn't have lipo I'd still be strutting around town myself, so that's just the reality. Such criticisms of a personal nature about the staff are not particularly useful.

The admins on this site are very quick to quell any namecalling and derogatory usage of words (think N word and other not so nice things).

Why then does POZ publish a quote in the cover article that uses 'flamer' as derogatory?

In the cover article, there is a quote ďIím not the butchest thing ever, but [at least] Iím not a flamer,Ē says Sanchez."

This would be exactly as if a hispanic person had said "I may not be white but at least I'm not a N****r.'

How do you possible find this acceptable? That would get someone a severe warning in this forum if not banned outright. Why is it allowed to do the same thing in the magazine you so chastize here?

You've just alienated a group of people.

Issue 2: The recent cover issue I found totally worthless. When I read poz, I rather expect to find an inspiring article about something someone has done if they are featured on the cover.

The recent cover was void of any depth and purely a puff piece. There are much more deserving people and issues to be highlighted on the cover.

If you want an article, look for a blogger who happens to post videos on youtube about living with hiv (not suggesting me). He did pretty much the unthinkable in chronicalling his first few months of testing positive and starting meds in videos. Look for the person who started a peer education something or other... jeez... look for a person who has done SOMETHING.....ANYTHING! A person who reached out and did something for someone else or the 'cause'.

Another issue, you (poz) wonder why some forum members become upset. I can name off my head a good 20 people in this forum that would have made a better cover story. Perhaps you had some plan of tying together his newly infected status with change.... sadly, there was no change or even a point to the story.

That is was people are frustrated.

It would be nice if a response was posted even if it is immediately locked for some clarification.

Oh, and cover amg this year. It's a good story (regardless of the side drama). Ignoring aidsmeds members is foolhardy as this is poz mag's greatest asset

edit to add: composed before peter posted his response. Glad regan is taking the time to at least address concerns. I do think there is a larger percentage here at aidsmeds that do read poz or at least the email blurbs. I know I read the poz website if not the actual print magazine regularly. My perception is that many others do as well. My perception is completely opposite of yours that actually the most active forum members are the ones who read it the least. (probably becuase so much time is spent posting)

I read it online once in awhile and, as with anything, some stuff I enjoy and some stuff not my cup of tea.

Such is life...

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"Get your medical advice from Doctors or medical professionals who you trust and know your history."

"Beware of the fortune teller doom and gloomers who seek to bring you down and are only looking for company, purpose and validation - not your best physical/mental interests."

"You know you all are saying that this is incurable. When the real thing you should be saying is it's not curable at the present time' because as we know, the great strides we've made in medicine." - Elizabeth Edwards

btw, as far as the POZ web site goes I make use of their RSS feeds an subsribe to the treatment news section with my news aggregator program, as it's the section of POZ I'm interested in -- I don't care about the "lifestyle" sections myself, but they do not offend me either. If you keep up daily/weekly with multiple news sources (HIV related or other) I highly recommend looking into a news aggregator as it really is a more efficient way of using your internet time.

Bailey -- I don't even know where to begin. It sounds now like your just lashing out to settle a score for some previous grievance with us, because the arguments you're throwing out are like wild curve balls. Why would a magazine's editorial policies have anything to do with the rules of how a community forum are run? I'm not going to even try to explain this to you, because I'm guessing you already know they have nothing to do with eachother.

Thank you for the response, Peter, and thank you for the clarification. I honestly had no idea you were active yourself in the publication of POZ magazine.

Bucko -- just to clarify, I'm not a staff person with POZ Magazine. I'm the founder of AIDSmeds.com, which is owned by Smart+Strong, which also owns POZ Magazine, Real Health Magazine, POZ.com and realhealth.com. I am considered part of the senior management team at Smart+Strong, but only because I lead one of it's websites. I certainly try to keep my ear to the ground with what's going on at POZ Magazine, and offer my advice from time to time (along with story ideas), and I have a blast working with most of it's staff at conferences, etc. In my mind, they are an amazing team that's really committed to putting out a magazine people living with HIV can learn from and be inspired by, and a magazine that at times might provoke its readers to think about the varied issues we all deal with.

Bucko -- just to clarify, I'm not a staff person with POZ Magazine. I'm the founder of AIDSmeds.com, which is owned by Smart+Strong, which also owns POZ Magazine, Real Health Magazine, POZ.com and realhealth.com. I am considered part of the senior management team at Smart+Strong, but only because I lead one of it's websites. I certainly try to keep my ear to the ground with what's going on at POZ Magazine, and offer my advice from time to time (along with story ideas), and I have a blast working with most of it's staff at conferences, etc. In my mind, they are an amazing team that's really committed to putting out a magazine people living with HIV can learn from and be inspired by, and a magazine that at times might provoke its readers to think about the varied issues we all deal with.

Peter

Thank you again for the response and the clarification. As a member here for over two years, I was aware of your bio but unclear on the nature of your relationship with POZ magazine. I vividly remember the whole S&S/AM conjunction, along with the switch to this new software and forum structure last year.

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Blessed with brains, talent and gorgeous tits.

The revolutionary smart set reads The Spin Cycle at least once every day.

I'll look into fixing the link to the stories via the POZ.com homepage -- sorry 'bout that. In the meantime, you can always trying accessing the treatment news-related articles I post through the AIDSmeds.com homepage.

I guess my post stems from the other thread but Peter said if anything else was to be said to post it here so....

I will not take back anything I said in my previous posts in the other thread. I will not back peddle but as I said before, I have nothing personal against Jesse, none of my post said that, what I have a problem with was some of the things he said in the article and on his MySpace blog. And before anyone decides to throw up quotes about me referring to him as flaming, well I do, sorry, read some of his previous posts, what would you think? And like I said I have nothing against flaming queens, I think they are cool. I mean I thought opinions were like assholes everyone has one. Yeah, I'm full of cliches, I know.

On to the Poz Mag staff. Just like everyone else, I thought they could have done better. As Peter has stated, he told them not to respond to the posts and for us to send email. True, I could do that and understands why Peter said not to, emotions were running a bit high, mine included. But sending an email just to have no reply seems a bit empty to me and more like a one sided conversation. And to me, I would feel like I am being ignored and I must admit I have a problem with not being acknowledged. It's like saying, " I see you but be gone" That just doesn't sit well with me. I know the staff has read the other thread but thinks it would be nice to at least start a thread or send Peter their side of the story and what they think of the responses in the other thread and he post it in a thread and then lock the thread so there can be no responses. I mean work with me, please. I don't expect it to go down like I requested but it would be nice to be acknowledged....Just saying....

Modified to add: Just read over what I said. Yeah, there could be responses by starting a new thread but you can only beat a dead horse so long...Would someone really do that? I guess they would. I guess I answered my own question....Must be smoking some that weed that makes you think harder.....

Matty the Damned thinks people need to understand something. What he's about to say next is not directed at the Queen, Matty knows where she's coming from.

Before Doxie started this thread he and I discussed it at some length, in particular that it was important that the greater issue of Poz, it's role and other things were broached. We also felt that it was important that such a thread was not used as a vehicle to kick the shit out of Jesus Sanchez.

You might have noticed that Dox and I have been very careful in this thread & in the other one which Peter mercifully locked to focus our guns at Poz and it's senior staff -- namely Miss Hoffman and Miss Chew. If those two are the decent people Peter says they are then they have a fair bit of explaining to do somewhere along the line.

Especially to Jesus.

Guys, it's time for some of you to lay the fuck off Jesse. I've never see a member of this place subjected to such a concerted tirade.

Seriously. He gets the message. Believe me, I've spoken to him. For those of you who intended to hurt him, mission accomplished. He's hurting. You should be feeling quite proud of yourselves.

The issue has never really been Jesus. He was just caught up in the crossfire and as Andy reminded us sometime back, he's just a kid. By all means piss on Poz, but leave the boy out of it. Doxie's point in starting this thread was to debate issues not defame one of our HIV+ brothers.

Yes Jesus is a bit of a flamer. So am I. Yes Jesus can be criticised for what he puts on the Net, just as any of us can. Yes, Jesus' entry to our Forum was a bit tortured and unfortunate, but he's definitely paid for any mistakes he made.

But don't derail this thread just to beat some gay kid from Miami up. Some of you might think you're real hard arses when you do it, but remember that you're not as witty, clever or as tough as you think you are.

I have been hurt on here as the end result of certain youthful and idiotic comments I chose to make on here during a certain debate. If you were there, you remember what I'm referring to. For it was nasty.

I would like to flatter myself into thinking that I learned from that experience... and perhaps managed to somehow grow as a human because of it.

I was given forgiveness and an opportunity by this community after I apologized for acting like a damn fool and managing to make nothing more than a supreme ass of myself.